Amid the mayhem and carnage, the show’s fiery North Korean pickpocket who goes by the name of Kang Sae-Byeok has truly caught the attention of viewers and fashion insiders alike. That role is played by Jung HoYeon – a household name in South Korea’s fashion and modelling scene who is making her acting debut on Squid Game.

The 27-year-old’s crossover from the fashion world to the entertainment world is bound to make her star shine even brighter. At the time this article was written, she has already amassed 1.4 million followers on Instagram, crossing the one million mark that is usually the reserve of K-pop stars.

Want to know more about Jung? Ahead, we share some interesting facets of her life.

Jung took the second-place spot on the fourth season of Korea’s Next Top Model in 2013. The Korean spin-off of the popular American TV franchise had produced winners such as Sora Choi and Shin Hyun-ji who went on to become leading Korean models today. Prior to the show, the 1.76m beauty was modelling on an ad hoc basis as a means to make some money, doing gigs like walking for graduation shows.

In 2016, she appeared on the model reality program Devil’s Runway which was hosted by top Korean model Soo Joo Park. In it, she played the role of mentor to aspiring models.

Jung’s big international debut was for Opening Ceremony’s Spring/Summer 2017 show in New York. Since bursting onto the global fashion stage, she has become a regular fixture on the Fashion Week circuit and is frequently booked to walk the runways of fashion houses such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Moschino and Etro.

The flowy shoulder-length red hair is a Jung HoYeon trademark. She told The Korea Times how her locks had become her calling card as fashion minders and brand executives would refer to her as the “red-haired Asian because my Korean name is hard to pronounce.” However, she chopped it off to a practical bob and coloured in black to get into the role of Kang Sae-Byeok.

Jung has made several runway appearances at Chanel and that fact didn’t go unnoticed by the late Karl Lagerfeld. She recounted a nerve-racking experience during one fitting with the Kaiser to The Korea Times: “I remember one day when I was at a fitting for Chanel he stood in front of me with a stylist who was close to him. I overheard their conversation and the stylist told him ‘that red-haired girl is from South Korea and she has been doing great.’ Mr Lagerfeld pulled down his glasses and stared at me briefly. My heart was beating because such an influential man was looking at me, albeit briefly,” she said.

Jung was in the midst of New York Fashion Week when she was told by her agent to film an audition tape. In a virtual press conference, Squid Game‘s director Hwang Dong-hyuk revealed how he had cast numerous actresses for the role of Sae-Byeok before Jung’s tape landed on his table. “I knew straight away that she was the perfect fit for Sae-Byeok. I felt it right away – the tone of her voice, the glare and the aura, everything was perfect.”

In a 2018 interview with Models.com, Jung shared how she admires American director Quentin Tarantino and dreams of becoming an actress in an action flick one day. She said: “I love Kill Bill. I love the girls fighting with the really cool outfits. Since I’m a fashion model, we know the fashion industry, how to make it cool, that stuff. I think Kill Bill is a very good movie to see fashion and drama.” Guess, dreams do come true.

In an interview with Models.com, Jung revealed how her audition for a drama revolving around the lives of models turned into an embarrassing and hurtful experience. She said: “I read the monologue and it was so awkward that while I was reading even I could feel that it was very bad, and I could imagine their feeling. They told me, ‘You shouldn’t read like that. Did you practice it?’ They kept saying bad things. It did hurt my feelings.”

Text: Imran Jalal/FEMALE

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